While I was reading this, I just fell in love. This author’s words were woven together in such a way that created this perfect story. I was so excited while reading it - it was sooo good, and you know that feeling in your stomach you get when a book is that amazing? I had that all throughout my reading of this.

This gorgeous debut simply floored me. Reading this book was a gift, and one I hope you’ll give yourself as well, before watching the story (it’s in production for Hulu).

BLACK CAKE is an extraordinary debut novel. Two estranged siblings must reunite on the occasion of their mother’s death, opening old wounds and exposing long held secrets. The novel is a rich tapestry of cultures, characters, and traditions and social issues. Wilkerson covers so many aspects of lives that you’d think it would feel unfocused, but all the intertwining stories are woven together so beautifully and skillfully that everything fits just as it should, with several “wow” moments along the way. I very much look forward to reading whatever the author writes next.

Brother and sister, Byron and Benny have been estranged for years. They have to come together when their mother dies and leaves an audio message that they both must listen to. The message details family history, traditions, love and hope. It was hard to believe this was a debut novel.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I requested to read “Black Cake” by Charmaine Wilkerson as the novel’s premise intrigued me. I am always a sucker for stories that focus on the dynamics of family with a fresh spin, and this novel has definitely delivered on that.

Byron and Benny have lost their mother, Eleanor (Covey). While Byron has remained close to his mom, Benny has remained estranged, going as far as to miss her dad’s funeral. Benny has felt that her choices have never been accepted by her family while Byron has done exactly what has been expected of him. But when Covey’s attorney requests the siblings’ presence to listen to a recording Covey saved for this very moment, they both attend. Watching the video, they learn many secrets about their mom and her past. Both Byron and Benny are forced to reexamine the person they thought their mother was.

Black Cake is a Caribbean specialty that gets its name from its deep dark color that is derived from dried macerated fruits. The history of the cake and the Caribbean settings become important characters in this lovely tale as the novel moves from past to present, from the Caribbean, to Great Britain, to California and the United States. While Covey is an amazing woman whom we get to know better through her narrative, the novel has a fantastic set of supporting characters. To grab an analogy, like the Black Cake, which involves a lot of ingredients, they mix together for a delightful dessert that you just cannot stop thinking about.

Charmaine Wilkerson is a skilled writer; it’s easy to follow in love with her writing. I am already anticipating her next work.

Byron and Benny thought they knew their mother, but after her death they listen to an audio message revealing her true self which leaves them shocked and questioning everything. From the 1960's Caribbean to present day life in Southern California, this family saga is juicy, heartbreaking, and uplifting. Eleanor Bennett went through and survived so much against the odds, all while experiencing the death of herself several times. In the midst of losing and remaking herself, Eleanor keeps hold of a special family tradition...Black Cake. A recipe and symbol of love that keeps her family connected to roots that they don't know about and that Eleanor can never return to.

Throughout this story, I hurt for Eleanor, but admired her as well. I really like that Wilkerson wrote Eleanor as strong with "weak" moments. It was very humanizing and relatable. We read about her overcoming every time life knocked her down, but we also get to see her at a very low point. Depictions like this are so important to dismantling the strong Black woman representation. Yes we are strong when we need/want to be, but we struggle as well.

I really enjoy books written in this way where the main characters and the reader are finding out things together. It felt really immersive. As if the characters and I were in it together. I was more drawn to the flashbacks of Eleanor's story than the backstory and present actions of Byron and Benny, but overall I really enjoyed this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine for the advanced eARC!

5 stars
Not at all what I expected. I do feel there is a audience for this book. It is not for me. Thanks for the ARC of this book.

Black Cake is an excellent debut novel by this author. It is the story of two siblings who have not been in contact for years, but finally come together after their mother's death. Their mother's lawyer meets with them a plays a recording their mother made that unravels a complicated past, including the fact that they have a sister that they never knew about..
Their mother's childhood years in the Caribbean introduced strong traditions such as the traditional black cake which still binds them together today. From the Caribbean their mother's life included a forced marriage, escape to Europe, death of a friend, and key decisions to change her own life.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson is an epic story of several generations of Carribeans who eventually found their way to the United States. What is black cake and why is the dress left lying on the beach? The answers start with the death of the matriarch of the family Covey as she tells her story via an audiotape left for her children thru her lawyer Everything centers around the cake which has become a family tradition. The story slowly unfolds with her eventful life, friendships, and loves following the footsteps of almost all those who touch her in her first twenty-something years. Her children hear of her escape from the island, her life in England, and her enduring love for a man who gives up everything to protect her. The book painstakingly goes thru the tragedies of her children's lives, the estrangement of the daughter, the successes and heartbreaks of the son, and the search for another, long lost. A childhood friend and fellow swimmer "Bunny" becomes a central part of the book and the life story and of course of black cake.
This is a good book. The characters are slowly revealed, the narrative is well done, and the plot intricate and intertwined as are most family and life stories. It has a slow start but if the reader persists the story is worth the read. Lots of interesting information is presented in the book that goes back to the settlement and immigration of the Chinese and the introduction of other cultures to the island. It is interesting reading and informative historical information but at times gets the story a bit bogged down. In the end, however, it is essential to the story.
This is a debut novel for the author and is certainly revealing of her storytelling talent. Looking forward to more from Charmaine Wilkerson.

When I first started this book, I wasn't sure I was going to enjoy it. A lot of characters were introduced without an explanation as to how they were connected, and I was confused. But then I realized this was intentional and the author was slowly unraveling a mystery, several of them actually. It turned out I loved this book and all of the characters. It was rich and layered and by the halfway mark, I had trouble putting it down. I was genuinely sad to say goodbye to Covey, Benny, Byron and the rest of the well-developed cast.

Black Cake was a story of family secrets that are only reveal when someone in the family is decease. The secret forces a brother and sister that wasn’t speaking to each other to come together and see that the most important thing in the world is family not a career, social status, or sexual orientation. The ending of the book was very emotional!!! Great book. Thanks Net Galley for the advance read.

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkersonn

The “no-recipe” recipe for black cake gets passed down generations, and is made to celebrate special occasions. It represents bonding and love.

Author Wilkerson gives us a creative story of a West Indies island family who has its share of hardships. Some people just aren’t who they claim to be, as we find out. Others just up and disappear, but by the end of the story, all loose ends get tied up.

There are lots of players, but they are easy to follow, even with all the name changes. Benny and Byron’s mother, Covey, steals the show with her adventurous life revealed only after her death.

A great book club choice, Black Cake easily entertains the reader.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for the gifted digital ARC.

Eleanor Bennett has lives a fantastical life. From her humble and happy beginnings on The Island, to her mysterious time in England, to her final, golden years with her beloved family in California, Eleanor has always been as indomitable a force of nature as the ocean she loves to swim in. Unfortunately, even Eleanor Bennett cannot live forever, and so with one eye on the clock she begins to document the long-buried secrets, sacrifices, and adventures of her true life - for the history that she has painted for her children is far from the whole story.

With themes of identity, legacy, provenance, the sharing and definition of culture, and environmentalism, Black Cake is at once many things. It narrates an incredible life, one so rich and complex it is hard to believe that this is fiction. It gives a voice to people in times and places who were often underrepresented, and provides some truly interesting commentary on the ownership of both cultural recipes and the oceans. I simply could not stop reading until the very, bittersweet, end. An outstanding debut by Charmaine Wilkerson - well done!

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson was a book that has so much in it that once I had finished reading it left me filled with so many emotions and feeling that I had to lay it aside when I finished it to think about what exactly I had read.
It was written in the past and present and at times it felt like I was being tossed around as I was reading. I am not sure if I liked the book or not after reading it. For me there was too much happening in one story.
Thank you NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for the ARC. This is my personal review.

Charmaine Wilkerson tells a great story about love, loss, and family secrets weaving in a treasured family recipe.. It was a book that was hard to put down. I treasured every word.. It will be a great book club book with so much to discuss. Family is so important and it is so easy to push them away because of unconditional love you are always linked to each other. I am so happy that I was able to read Black Cake.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this debut book. I mostly enjoyed it, but at times I felt like it dragged. The story had a lot going on, troubled family relationships, the reveal of the mother’s duel life and all the secrets she endured, feelings about race, ocean conservation, food and ethnicity. All interesting topics, but maybe a bit much for me all in one book. I did love the symbolism of the black cake that takes time to mellow and blend all the flavors. This author has a lot of ideas and stories to tell. I will look forward to the next book.

This was such a great book! It’s about two siblings who find out about their mom’s secrets when she passes away. The story switches from present day and the past and between characters. I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend.

Family secrets and luscious scenery intertwine in this novel that explores identity, love and intergenerational family trauma. A family with roots in the Caribbean unpacks the layers of their collective and individual identities after the death of their matriarch. The stories are told in short chapters, perfect for readers looking for depth as well as the ability to dip in and out of a book. A wonderful debut novel by an author I’ll be sure to keep an eye on.

This was an original multi-generational family drama that at its core addresses cultural self-identity and the resilience of the human spirit. Through multiple timelines and interconnected family stories, the reader comes to learn the power of family recipes that are passed down in the form of oral histories: Black Cake is the both cultural and symbolic center of this story. Across decades and even centuries, from the Caribbean to the UK and the Wedge in Newport Beach, California, we are taken on an epic journey of self-discovery for two estranged siblings. Byron and Benny, who lose their mother and are left with a cryptic message and lengthy recording that reveals a previously unknown family history centered on their mother, Eleanor Bennett. Beautiful writing, with many layers that include powerful messaging on the global environmental challenges that we, as humans, all must face together - regardless of our race, ethnicity, or heritage.
Thanks to NetGalley and Penguin Random House for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This is my first revision…I’m not sure why I feel that I should say this but I am not an African American. This book is about African Americans it covers several generations that started in the “islands “. It’s a good book but I don’t think it’s a great book. At times it was hard to follow and the author rambled about something that was only minutely important to the story. At times I wanted to just throw the book away and at other times I wanted to learn more about the characters and I couldn’t pull myself away. In a lot of the books I have read, I felt like I could actually know the characters and in some way identity with them, no matter their ethnicity or color ~ I don’t even remember a book where I thought about those issues. But in this book I did. For a first book it was okay. I will be interested in reading the authors second book and maybe even third. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy for my honest review.

Covey Lyncook was just a young girl when she was promised to be married to a horrible man. But when he dropped dead at their wedding and Covey disappeared, it prompted a lifetimes worth of questions. What happened to Covey and was she responsible. In present day, Eleanor Bennett has just passed away and left her children Byron and Benny a recording of her life’s story - and they begin to realize their mother isn’t who they thought she was.

This book is good but could’ve used another round of serious edits and about 100 pages less. The main story in the book was very interesting and I was really invested in it. But that storyline was wrapped up with more than 50 pages to go.

It feels like the author was trying to do too much within one story. There were unnecessary mysteries as well as side stories around the degradation of our oceans, workplace discrimination, the relationship between black men and police, and so much more. While those are all important topics, trying to weave them into this book with just a quick scene here and there made it feel useless.

I really liked the story of Covey and Eleanor, but I wish the author had stuck to that storyline only.

This book will be reviewed on episode 20 of the Reading Through Life podcast, available Jan 5, 2022.